Christian Movie | The Ultimate Legacy DVD | Podcast

In our finale episode of our review of the “Ultimate” series, we review the final film in the trilogy — The Ultimate Legacy. This movie stands well as its own separate film and does a good job at not being a total retread of “The Ultimate Gift”.

The Ultimate Legacy was released in 2016 and stars Raquel Welch, Doug Jones, Brian Dennehy, Lee Meriwether, Bill Cobbs, and Myko Olivier. This movie was based on one of the books in the Ultimate Gift Series by Jim Stovall, also called The Ultimate Life. It picks up where the last film, The Ultimate Life left off, with Jason Stevens marrying Alexia and them having a daughter, Chloe. This is the third episode of our 3-week series reviewing the three films in the Ultimate Life trilogy. If you’re interested in ordering this film after our review, you can find it on our website at www.fishflix.com.

The Ultimate Legacy is the third film in the “Ultimate Series”, being preceded by The Ultimate Gift (2006) and The Ultimate Life (2013). In this third and final part, spoiled rich kid Joey Anderson is use to having everything go his way. Anything he’s ever wanted in life has always been given to him and he’s never had to work for anything. So when his grandmother, Miss Sally, passes away, he has to work hard to continue enjoying the benefits of Anderson House, and Miss Sally’s pocket book.

When her will is read, it is revealed that Joey must accomplish a series of 12 tasks or “gifts” (the same 12 tasks that Jason Stevens had to complete in The Ultimate Gift) before he receives any of his grandmother’s wealth and inheritance. This is a new concept for Joey, as he’s never had to work a day in his life. With the help of Theodore and Angelica Hamilton, Kelly, and Jason Stevens, Joey spends one year at Anderson house, working to receive his inheritance and his freedom.

Featuring most of the original cast of The Ultimate Gift, The Ultimate Legacy is a worthy continuation of the series. While the second film, The Ultimate Life, stepped back in time to give viewers a look at Jason Steven’s grandfather Red’s life, this third movie continues forward. Jason Stevens has grown and matured into an incredible young man. He is now married to Alexia, and they are now together raising their first child, Chloe. Jason is still in possesion of his grandfather’s foundation and is still working in his fulfilling philanthropic work. However, he realizes that he needs to pass on what he has learned. He, too, was once an arrogant self-centered young man and when he has the opportunity to work with Joey, he chooses to do so.

With an excellent production value and most every actor delivering a solid performance, this film easily lives up to the first two films. We’ve compared the movies to each other a lot over the course of this three week series, but it’s also good to mention that The Ultimate Legacy works well as its own stand alone film. While it does rely on the history and story from the first two films, it’s a solid addition that works well as its own movie.

I did find the film had a few pacing issues, especially in regard to the twelve gifts. The first two gifts end up spanning more than 50% of the film and the last several gifts were either rushed through or skipped over entirely. Despite this, we still get a very real sense of character development in Joey and as we learn more of his history and background we come to understand him much better.

The Ultimate Legacy is a film that will inspire you and help remind you of the values of stewardship, self-discipline, and selflessness. Although Joey must follow the same rules that Jason had to follow when he was in Joey’s place, this film doesn’t feel like a repeat of The Ultimate Gift. These characters are all very unique in their own ways and the pacing of this movie is dramaticaly different from The Ultimate Gift. This film feels like a fitting continuation of The Ultimate Gift and viewers are sure to enjoy seeing what became of Jason after the events of the previous two films.

The Ultimate Legacy features many returning actors from The Ultimate Gift including Brian Dennehy, Lee Meriwether, Bill Cobbs, and Ali Hillis. Viewers are sure to enjoy seeing many returning characters but will also definitely enjoy the new cast of characters and their own unique feel that they bring to this new movie.

This is a nice completion to the trilogy in a unique way. While The Ultimate Legacy focuses mainly on Joey and has Jason more on the sidelines, it helps to bring his story to completion. The character of Jason becomes fully developed in this conclusion to the trilogy. In the first film, he was a self-centered and spoiled young man who didn’t care for anybody but himself. In the second film, he was the head of a philanthropic organization who still had a few things to learn about love and the importance of friends. And now, as the trilogy ends we see Jason passing on what he learned to the next generation. He wants to see his legacy (a key theme throughout the film) be passed on to the next generation. And that next generation comes to him in the for of young Joey Anderson.

If you enjoyed The Ultimate Gift or The Ultimate Life or just enjoy films about redemption and grace, then you definitely need to see The Ultimate Legacy.

As far as family friendliness goes, this film is fine to show to your children. Apart from one brief fight scene that contains some violence and few thematic elements involving suicide, there is really nothing to be concerned about here. But as always, we recommend you watch the film first and decide if it’s appropriate for your particular family.